Home sales up, prices fall again

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Home sales up, prices fall again

5 V- q; Z) l+ _# |0 T4 r9 JTotal tops 1,000 for first time in 3 months -- for an average 1.5% less
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By Bill Mah, The Edmonton JournalMarch 4, 2009Be the first to post a comment
  StoryPhotos ( 1 )
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7 [% D. e/ h( H$ r  Sales through the Multiple Listing Service reached 1,075 residential properties last month -- breaking the 1,000-unit threshold for the first time since October. That compares with 730 residential sales in January and 608 in December.Photograph by: Ed Kaiser, Edmonton JournalSales and listings in the Edmonton-region resale housing market picked up in February over a sluggish January while most prices slipped, show MLS figures released Tuesday.
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1 C, k* T5 m9 a# o9 T; QBoth sales and prices are generally down from last year's pace.

$ Q( m, W) [+ _3 B: ]1 n2 ESales through the Multiple Listing Service reached 1,075 residential properties last month -- breaking the 1,000-unit threshold for the first time since October. That compares with 730 residential sales in January and 608 in December.

; Y, E. s+ H7 m5 t( F3 B6 D  f' \9 q) t"In January, we were ahead of December numbers, and again we're ahead," said Charlie Ponde, president of the Realtors Association of Edmonton. "This (trend in sales) should definitely continue until the (end) of the summer -- but not to the 2008 numbers, though." Compared with February 2008, residential sales last month were down 16.5 per cent.
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Ponde credited lower prices with boosting sales in recent months.
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"The news is getting to the people that prices have levelled off." Falling mortgage rates and federal tax credits for home renovations will also prod sales, he added.
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The average selling price of a single-family home in February was $347,309 -- down 1.5 per cent, or $5,380, from January, and down 9.1 per cent from a year ago.
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From January to February, condo prices were down 4.9 per cent, or $11,678, to $226,857 -- 14.1 per cent lower than a year ago.

+ W7 x# x% _7 CDuplex and rowhouses sold for an average $309,180, up about three per cent from January and up about five per cent year-over-year.
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. V6 x, r& }5 @  PAverage MLS sale prices for all types of homes have fallen by double-digits from their peaks in May 2007 of $426,028 for single-family homes, $266,100 for condos and $347,257 for duplexes and rowhouses. The declines are 18.5 per cent, 14.7 and 11 per cent, respectively.

  b* U' X3 w9 l7 }# ^+ m! w  O6 QUntil the numbers are seasonally adjusted, it's difficult to compare MLS statistics for February with January, said Richard Goatcher, senior market analyst for Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. in Edmonton.

; K& q+ C: H3 l* l" C, ^"Year-over-year is probably a more valid comparison and it's showing pretty much declines across the board in terms of sales, average and median price," Goatcher said.
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"It's more or less showing a continuation of what we saw for much of last year, which is a market that favours buyers with declining sales, weak prices. There's not a lot of urgency in the market out there right now." The association reported 2,667 listings added to MLS in February 2009. As of Feb. 28, there were 7,097 homes in the inventory.

# \+ j9 |4 K+ l1 ~' KThe sales-to-listing ratio was 40 per cent in February. That's an improvement over January's 30-per-cent mark.

bmah@thejournal.canwest.com
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/ ~8 ~; w1 F4 n1 X) K0 P- U* X© Copyright (c) The Edmonton Journal

hbc

TerryCheng

放量下跌，是不是继续跌的信号哪？

lastman

炒房团不计损失，开始抛了